Crazy thoughts: How can you compare Man vs Wild to Cricket?

“Adventure includes a sport in itself as if every sport is an adventure.”
Adventure means any activity or activities that glue us with the high level of inherent danger, emotions of thrill, excitement, and vulnerability. We prefer adventure as a unique challenge to master, a lifetime experience that would be ultimately worth the work. As you dig deep along these fundamental lines, you can have your say that adventure is equivalent to a sport in more than one way. Don’t agree? Be logical.

It’s not at all blasphemous! Sports and adventure can be described as nothing but two brothers thrived across different competitions they throw us in a situation sometimes, where it’s really difficult to separate who’s who!

So while all these crazy things floating across my lazy mind, my view is of the two things which keep me and my TV stick together and occasionally come up with a crazy question – How you can find the similarities between Man V/s Wild, the Reality show and our beloved sports, cricket?

Let’s first concentrate on Man V/s Wild. Each episode of the famous reality show displays a specific pattern- Bear Grylls is left alone confined in a place far away from the Midas touch of human civilization. The places usually come up with one of these – maybe it’s a forest, jungle or such other place where you have to be mentally and physically at your best to survive.

man-vs-wild

Bear Grylls tells us with his crazy activities about the problems and the difficulties he faces while stranded there. The techniques he uses and how he survives is the main USP of the show. Yes, how he manages to survive among all this, how he stays afloat, eventually keeps his motivation on a high level and after all these dramatic survival acts he walks to the other side – often via a helicopter or bus or any other vehicle.

We certainly enjoy the urban techniques, cherish the green-grass beds and the adventurous Stone Age fire. But what attracts people like you and me the most is how Bear Grylls is able to withstand and overcome the hostile backdrop, and live long after to come up with yet another stunning episode…

Now let’s dissect our beautiful game of cricket. Cricket is to be fair in a nutshell, a tough confrontation- 11 vs 1. The Batsmen anxiously awaits his nemesis on-field, the bowler, and the bowler starts his run-up, comes charging towards the crease with full speed and finally hurls the ball at the batsman.

batsman stands up against ruthless challenges

Meanwhile, the Batsman was trying hard to get into the dark corridor of the bowler’s mind and pre-anticipate within a fraction of second what he has up to, and the ball comes like a tracer bullet towards him if it’s a fast bowler. Now he has to make the final decision- leave it or touch it. Will it be a gentle push or a smashing to find the gap! This all happens in mere seconds as the batsman has no time to waste as he has to get ready to face the next ball, then the next ball and the next. Remember, he also has to take into account the other 10 people – the fielders and the wicketkeeper just behind his neck, always cheering his every failure until he gives up.

The fascinating factor for a viewer like me is how the batsman stands high up against these ruthless challenges – the challenge of playing a wide array of bowlers both spin and pace, manipulating the field placements wisely to find the gaps to sneak in boundaries to keep the run-rate healthy and the stamina, a never back down approach to bat for an hour or two, and even for days depending on the format of the game. The eventual joy comes when a batsman hits a stunning off-drive, defeating the 6 -7 fielders guarding the area. And the batsman ultimately survives for one more ball…

So what you say! Isn’t Man V/s Wild more similar to cricket than what many of us thought it to be. Both have a huge fan following, put individuals against an entire hostile ecosystem of trials and tribulations and we all share the joy when they manage to survive this ordeal. Most importantly SURVIVAL & STRUGGLE – these two happens to be the prime facet of both the TV show and Cricket- and both will do everything possible on earth to maintain this typical aesthetic nature of their self’s to keep drawing fans and keep them glued to the TV set.

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